UPDATE 3-Oil rebounds towards $82 as European debt woes ease

                                
 * Ireland agrees to tackle debt crisis with EU-IMF
                                
 * China rate hike speculation eases
                                
 * Coming up at 1330 GMT: U.S. jobless claims
                                
 
                                
 (Updates prices, changes dateline to LONDON, adds quote)
                                
 LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Oil retraced part of a steep
four-session drop on Thursday as worries about Ireland's debt
crisis eased and a sharp crude inventory drawdown in top
consumer the United States propped up prices.
                                
 U.S. December crude contract <CLc1> was up $1.35 or 1.68
percent to $81.79 per barrel at 1028 GMT after being briefly
lifted as high as 2 percent up. ICE Brent <LCOc1> was also 1.39
percent up to $84.67 a barrel.
                                
 Concerns about the euro zone's fiscal health and a potential
interest rate hike in China had knocked about 8 percent off a
25-month high last week, sending oil to a low of $80.06 on
Wednesday, its weakest since Oct. 20.
                                
 But Dublin's agreement to work with a European Union-IMF
mission to shore up its troubled banking sector soothed
investors' worries. Ireland's central bank chief said on
Thursday he expected the country to receive tens of billions of
euros in loans from European partners [ID:nLDE6AH0HV]
                                
 "For now the market seems to be increasingly relaxed that
measures are being put in place (in Ireland)," said Jim Reid, a
strategist at Deutsche Bank.
                                
 The euro rose on new-found optimism in the response to
Ireland's debt crisis, while the greenback slid about 0.6
percent against a basket of currencies <.DXY>.
                                
 The remarks of an academic advisor to the People's Bank of
China also quelled speculation about a raise in Chinese interest
rates, which had put pressure on the oil price.
                                
 Zhou Qiren said China should not rely solely on interest
rate rises to curb inflation adding that the government must
take steps to tackle the supply-side strains that have been a
key factor in pushing up consumer prices. [ID:nTOE6AH04C]
                                
 
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For a graphic showing the biggest discount since September:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/AS/0810/ABE_20101811122926.jp
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 INVENTORIES, U.S DATA
                                
 U.S. crude stockpiles dropped the most in more than 14
months last week, as fewer imports and higher refining rates
dented inventories, a weekly government report from the Energy
Information Administration showed on Wednesday. [EIA/S]
                                
 Inventories unexpectedly fell by 7.29 million  barrels to
357.6 million barrels in the week to Nov. 12, while crude
imports fell 226,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7.83 million bpd.
                                
 Stocks of oil products also fell, although more closely in
line with analyst expectations.
                                
 Gasoline fell by 2.66 million barrels, versus forecasts for
an 800,000-barrel draw, while distillate stocks declined 1.11
million barrels compared with a projected 2.2 million drop.
                                
 But crude inventories at the key Cushing, Oklahoma hub rose
1.27 million barrels to 33.07 million, depressing the value of
U.S. crude relative to European benchmark Brent.
                                
 Cushing is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile
Exchange's benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
futures.
(Reporting by Isabel Coles in London and Alejandro Barbajosa in
Singapore, Editing by Alison Birrane)